5.26.2010

raindrops and fizz

Yesterday, during the rain shower, I took these photos of the wild-flower bouquet that one of my students picked for me on my last day of school.

May has been rainy and gray here in Portland. I think the warmest weather we've had so far this year has been in the 70s--No outlandish heat yet. I don't mind the rain, but I do wonder what it means for my garden.

I've discovered that marigold is an extremely easy plant to propagate. One of my starfire marigolds was looking a bit leggy, so I trimmed it and stuck the cuttings in water. Within literally a weekend, I had roots.

This marigold is blooming on one that I started from seed and then propagated off of that original seedling. This will be my second flowering plant that started as a tiny seed in February (the first is the tomato plant pictured below).

I took the cuttings and planted them in a little purse that a friend was getting rid of.

Brian has been making homemade sparkling tea. In the one below, he used rosehips, lemon balm, and orange peel. He brews a quart of ultra strong tea, puts it into a cornelius keg, and adds 5 gallons of water. The water must reach 38 degrees F overnight at 22 PSI before it's ready to drink. It's natural and fresh and thirst quenching (not to mention more exciting than boring old water).

My tomato plants are doing well--Most of them. I had a few casualties. One plant is flowering already. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but I'm rejoicing! I have so many plants, a few early flowers won't hurt anything.

For dinner, we feasted on a large mesclun and endive frisee salad that I grew from seeds! After harvesting these leafy greens, I planted another round of rocket arugula, mesclun, red deer tongue lettuce, and endive frisee, as well as swiss chard and collard greens, almost all in containers.